Magic Knows No Boundaries Chapter 34 (Patreon)

Chapter 34:

The Sword in the Stone

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Harry walked into the antechamber with his guests trailing behind him. Teddy took the lead with Viktor, Poliakoff and Fleur just behind.

They were the last to arrive, as the heads of every family with a seat on the board of governors was present, plus Albus and Madame Hooch.

He was pleased to realize he’d met most of the people already present in this world as well as his own. Lucius Malfoy, Mrs Zabini, Valentine Crabbe, Hidlerband Goyle and Fleamont Potter he had all met in this world already, and in Madame Bones case at least seen. Augusta Longbottom, Cyrus Greengrass, Mrs Abbot, Mrs Bullstrode, Mrs Parkinson, and of course Mrs Weasley he had also met in his own. The placards in front of everyone else told him who they were. Orion Black barely needed one, being the spitting image of his own son, and the same was true for Theodore Nott senior. The two that gave him pause was a woman whose placard declared her to be Kera Moody, who was too young to be Alastor’s mother and too old to be a daughter, leaving only two possibilities and he boggled at the idea of her being his wife, but suspected it was so. The other was Aileen Prince, who also looked too young to be Snape’s mother.

He needed to figure that one out later.

There were a lot of empty seats for extinct houses, among them one titled Morrigan. He and his entourage made their way to it.

“Professor Morrigan. Thank you for joining us.” Albus greeted. “Seeing as you called for this emergency meeting, I give the floor to you.”

“Thank you, Headmaster, but I must refuse.” Harry said cheekily. “As I have brought with me the man who shall be my semi-permanent stand in. Representing the Morrigan estate, I present to you all, Theodore Tonks. Your new member of the board.”

He bowed and stepped away. Theodore stepped forward and bowed to the gathered to mixed reactions. Everybody at least gave a polite applause, with Molly and Augusta being the most vocal in their approval. The only person who didn’t clap was Orion.

Strangely, Lucius looked positively delighted. Harry had been joking when he said the three men dating Blacks being on the board would be ironic, now he suspected it was a stronger base for camaraderie than he suspected.

“As his stand in, Professor Morrigan will be overseeing my conduct here as a form of training, unless anybody here objects?” Theodore said.

Nobody objected. They honestly could, as having a stand in meant he technically wasn’t on the board on not entitled to be part of the meetings. Usually, stand-ins were assigned to represent underage successors who were not ready to take on their duties, and there were many meetings where some might object to an underage person attending. They would have to be real assholes to object to his presence. The only scenario he could foresee with him being barred from a meeting was if said meeting was in regards to his imminent sacking, which he hoped never happened.

“Very well. I call this emergency meeting into order.” Said Tonks as he sat at the Morrigan chair and spelled the placard to say his name instead. “The topic, emergency employment of part time employees under Madame Hooch.”

“And why does Madame Hooch require part time employees?” Asked Augusta. “She has always been excellent about handling her duties as head of sports and games. Are you no longer able to perform them, deer?”

“My usual duties aren’t causing me any trouble at all.” Said Rolanda. “It is an unexpected skyrocketing in new duties that I am unequipped for. You see, the students have all decided that Hogwarts wasn’t offering anywhere near enough club or sport activities. So they have formed over a dozen new ones over night.”

Instead of confusion, the room filled with excited chatter from the Purebloods present.

“Have we finally re-instituted the boating clubs?” Asked Valentine.

“Fencing Club?” Asked Lucius.

“Cooking club?!” Asked Molly.

She got some strange looks for that one.

“Yes to all of the above, save for cooking.” Said Rolanda. “And more.”

Molly deflated and made a face like a kicked puppy, but the excitement of everyone else continued to grow.

“We’ve all been clamoring for a revitalization of traditional sports for decades, but our Muggleborn populace has only ever been interested in bringing over Muggle sports.” Said Orion. “Which has always been too expensive, requiring new construction that would make hideous the gorgeous scenery around Hogwarts. What has changed?”

Albus took over.

“Well, it appears that the students were simply unaware that these sports were options.” He said. “Despite our eagerness to revitalize said sports, it never occurred to us to actually advertise it to the student populace. We did not know they wanted it, because they did not know they wanted it.”

Ah, the folly of adults. Especially adult wizards. The underestimation of children and simultaneous overestimation of them. In all his time at Hogwarts it had somehow never occurred to him that all of the many suits of armor, boats, and martial weapons were for more than decoration.

“Well, we have the facilities.” Said Fleamont. “And we have great teachers in the form of ghosts and portraits. It really is just a matter of having employees on hand with a wand, that you seem to have picked individuals suited to also teach and officiate such sports is a great boon. Or am I wrong in assuming that’s why you three are here?”

He said this while looking at Viktor, Fleur and Poliakoff, who all stood a bit straighter.

“Yes zir.” Said Fleur. “I am a skilled fencer and duelist, and would be happy to help part time.”

“I can handle wrestling, animal riding and most other martial games that Miss Delacour cannot.” Said Viktor.

“And I am a chess master. Happy to help with it and all other game clubs to free up Madame Hooch for her sports.” Said Poliakoff. “But I will need full moons off. I am a werewolf, if that is a deal breaker.”

Everyone made the exact same motion of dismissal with their hands.

“Hardly. We have a werewolf as a teacher, and he doesn’t cause any problems.” Said Mr Nott.

“I would go one step further and say he is one of the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher’s we’ve had in decades.” Added Hildebrand. “So your condition is no issue. I think our gobstone champions can go two to three days without a club meeting per month.”

“Or somebody can easily cover for you.” Said Mrs Zabini.

“Are you sure you aren’t just happy to have another Veela in Britain?” Mrs Parkinson jabbed at her.

Mrs Zabimi made an exasperated gesture.

“Why does everyone think I’m a Veela?” She demanded.

Fleur perked up.

“You are not Veela?” She asked, seemingly shocked. “I would have sworn you were! I’ve only met one Africana Veela and you outshine her!”

Mrs Bullstrode, Parkinson, Prince and Weasley all howled with laughter at that admission and Mrs Zabini glowered. Albus had to call for order with his gavel.

“Then we are all in agreement?” Albus asked. “Shall we devote funds to hiring three new staff members as part time club and sports overseers?”

“The Hogwarts treasury can more than handle it.” Said Madame Bones. “I say we vote to allocate the funds, get these three their documents for signing, perform their background cheks and put them to work.”

Harry tapped Theodore on the shoulder and held up four fingers.

“Four, actually.” Said Theodore.

All eyes turned on him.

“Who is the fourth person you have in mind?” Asked Madame Hooch.

Harry leaned down to whisper to his representative only to be interrupted by Albus.

“Professor Morrigan, you are free to speak if you have the answers to our questions.” He said.

“Ah, well, I sent out many a letter, and I don’t know if he will accept, but I had the former student Cedric Diggory in mind on recommendation.” He said. “That way we could have a Hogwarts alumni, and somebody with animal riding experience.”

Several people nodded in agreement with his choice in person, while others seemed to consider it.

“Well then, we shall allocate enough funds for four new positions in the event he, or somebody else likewise suitable, opts to take up the role.” Said Kara Moody. “Sans any further interruption, I think it is time to call for a vote.”

They all waited a moment to see if any such interruption would occur, when none was forthcoming Albus brought the meeting to a close.

“Very well then. I call the board of governors to a vote. Shall we allocate funds to employ four part time game and sport officiators.” Albus asked. “All in favor?”

All hands, save those of Molly, Prince and Tonks, raised.

“All against?” Said Albus.

Molly and Prince both raised their hands.

Harry knew Theodore was abstaining from the vote as it was his motion being voted on, so he was not allowed to add his choice to the mix. Conflict of interest and all that. Why Molly and Prince were opposed, he couldn’t even begin to guess. Neither had voiced any objections thus far.

“Very well. The motion is passed. If there are no further orders of business…” Albus paused and looked around the room to many shaking heads. “Then today’s meeting of the Board of Governors is adjourned. Good evening all.”

He used his gavel one last time and everyone stood up.

“Mr Krum, Miss Delacour, Mr Poliakoff. If you would join Madame Hooch and I, we shall induct you forthwith.” Albus invited Harry’s three guests.

Only a few of the guests left immediately, following Albus and Hooch out the door with the new employees. Most of the rest mingled and chatted.

Harry waved to Molly motioning for her to come over and did the same with Prince. They both nodded and made their way over to him and Theodore.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you ladies. As you know, I only recently came into my Lordship, and am at a loss. Hence having a substitute in Theodore here.” Harry greeted and introduced.

Both of them curtsied out of respect, and it was a strange feeling seeing Molly perform the gesture.

“I suppose you wish to know why we voted no?” Prince asked.

“Moreso I want your perspective. You were the only two to do so, and I pay attention to outliers.” Harry said honestly. “I want to know your reasons because I think they might actually change my mind.”

“They won’t.” Prince told him. “Hence why I did not share. I voted no because I believe students should be spending more time studying than playing sports. A perspective nobody else here agrees with. They already spend enough time obsessed with Quidditch.”

Harry blinked at her then turned to Molly.

“Well, on the topic of Quidditch, don’t you think Roberta has her hands full enough dealing with injuries from that barbaric game?” Molly asked rhetorically. “Now fencing, boating, horseback riding and wrestling? Oh heavens, even if Poppy was still with us it would be a nightmare. But I know I can’t convince all you boys that your rough housing needs to be toned down, so I kept my opinion to myself.”

Harry and Theodore shared a look.

“I mean, she’s not exactly wrong.” Theodore admitted.

And Harry agreed. The DMLE Head who had approached during all of this talk did though.

“I disagree.” She said grumpily as she approached. “You are out of line pinning it on the boys, as my love of rough housing and Quidditch playing and broken bones is one I would never deign to deny my niece or her peers. And if you got Augusta over here, she would agree.”

“I certainly do.” Said Mrs Zabini who, along with Valentine and Hildebrand had approached during all of this. “I want all the boys in Hogwarts beating the tar out of each other on the Quidditch pitch and in the fencing club. Lest they do not become the men we love, but instead coddled and soft, with none of those beautiful scars and callouses that my husband has.”

Oh wow, that woman sure knew how to stroke men’s ego. And make them feel appreciated as men. He hoped she and Bellatrix never became friends, or his woman might actually gain the skills to tye him around her pinky.

“Well, I’m not trying to start a fight here, I really did just want to know their perspective. As their teacher, my main focus is supposed to be their safety and their education, so I’ll put some more effort into making sure injuries are avoided and study groups are maintained at least.” Harry said. “And maybe try to inspire a history or potions club too?”

Prince dazzled him with a smile at that suggestion and he knew he said the right thing there. Good. Making friends. That’s why he was there.

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"I somehow always forget that the seasons are flipped down here." Voldemort complained as he shivered from the frigid breeze.

"Are you a wizard or aren't you?" Walburga teased.

"Well, I would cast a warming charm on myself but warming charms always feel better when a lady casts it on you for some reason." He said. "Kinda like how food cooked by somebody else tastes better."

"That or maybe you're pants at cooking?" Walburga suggested. "And also the whole not able to cast spells around here thing?"

That was a distinct possibility. Fortunately the black, rocky ground they were half climbing along was already beginning to warm up from the afternoon sunlight. So it preventing him from casting said warming charms were a moot point. And as they crested the last hill of black granite their goal came into view.

A great Olga, surrounded by black boulders on all sides, sat in the middle of the draw formed by the rocky hills on either side. It wasn't as large as Uluru, or as decorative as Kata Tjuta. Much like Uluru and Kata Tsuja, it had been created by a rainbow serpent as a marking stone above the cave and water system it had dug itself in the rock below. Unlike Uluru and Kata Tsuja, it was still inhabited and was surrounded on all sides by the mysterious cursed stone of Kalkajaka. Which made it a perfect place to hide something from wizards and Muggles alike.

As an active Olga still inhabited by a wild rainbow serpent, the wizarding government of Australia and aboriginal mages protected the entire area from Muggles. As a Kalkajaka it kept all but the most suicidal wizards away.

Nobody knew for certain where the black stones came from, but all enchanters and alchemists knew for sure wizards created them. The leading theory was that it was some kind of equal and opposite enchanting method. By binding two such slabs of granite, they could strengthen a positive enchantment on one by simultaneous casting a dark curse on the other.

It held up in theory, and had been proven through experimentation. Problem was, none of the positive counterparts had ever been found and there was evidence of a wizarding society large enough ever having existed in Australia who could have produced so many billions of these wretched stones in such piles all over the continent. These stones that made all wizards, witches and even squibs feel as if the magic in their veins had turned to wriggling worms and wanted to burst out through their chest. Merely using magic around these things could kill a wizard or witch. It also completely incapacitated any sensory abilities.

And that wasn't even the greatest of the defenses he had places around his Horcrux.

They neared a freshwater stream and he spoke in parseltongue.

"I have returned, great mother." He spoke to the water.

Then, they stood there and patiently waited. And waited. And waited some more. He was about to speak again when the water's surface finally exploded upwards in a deluge of water. Always the melodrama with the bigger snakes.

And she was even bigger than he recalled, and he once again hoped he'd have the chance to introduce her to Salazar's equally large basilisk. Sure, experimental breeding was illegal, but since when did he care about illegality?

Rainbow serpents were effectively giant white-lipped pythons. That was it. Their dark scales iridescent, reflecting a rainbow sheen. There was also the small matter that their scales were elongated, halfway to being feathers. They were still very much magical creatures, however. As their gigantism, like giants, was born of magic and their scales made for excellent wand cores. The core of his spell wand came specifically from her, actually.

There was also the small ability they have to eat stone and regurgitate it into solid masses. Hence how they carve out these tunnels and use the material to form Olga's.

"It has been too long, speaker." She said.

"Indeed, it has." Tom said.

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The unlikely trio breached the water's surface and they were deposited on cold, hard stone.

"Thank you, beautiful." Tom said to the rainbow serpent between coughs and sputters for the long swim through her watery tunnels.

He hadn't even said it in parseltongue, but she nodded in understanding all the same.

He picked himself up off the floor and helped Walburga do the same. With that done he cast a drying charm on her then himself. Inside of the Olga they were free from the influence of the black stones and thus it was safe to do magic again. And they were now past all of the protections Tom expected anybody to be capable of getting past.

Without the ability to cast the bubble head charm outside from the black stones nobody could manage that swim unless they'd thought to bring gillyweed along. And even if they had gillyweed, they'd have to swim through the underwater tunnels and do so without getting murdered to death by his colorful friend. Still, more protections awaited.

Walburga gasped as her eyes adjusted to the giant underground snake den.

"Is it expanded?" She asked.

"Yes. By a lot." Tom said.

It was a deliberately weak expansion charm too. One designed to collapse if any of the traps are triggered.

Tom had gotten the idea from alchemy, the simplest technique of which is to compress elements into higher elements with spatial expansion charms. Take a small space, like the inside of a jar, and expand it to twice the size. Fill it to the brim with Aluminum then simply collapse the space expanding charm and the two parts of aluminum will combine into roughly one part of iron... with a WHOLE lot of radiation as a byproduct. Most early alchemists simply killed themselves from radiation poisoning with the first experiment doing this, later ones wizened up and stood away from containers used for this job but still died of radiation over time because they had no concept of radiation.

Unfortunately, the technique only worked for elements with a positive proton count, so you can't use it to create copper, silver or gold. That couldstill be done by first creating higher, trans uranium elements and letting them decay to the elements you want, which is a complicated alchemical art requiring decades of experiment and trial and error - usually using time slowing containment wards to examine these elements before they decay. That was time Voldemort simply didn't have. The primary ingredient for the sorcerer's stone is merely whatever element lies in that mysterious island of stability at the end of the possible periodic table.

It makes sense if you think about the symbology, and thus, magical applications for such a material.

It did confuse the crap out of Muggle archeologists whenever they found ancients cities or towns of people fallen dead in the streets with more background radiation than Chernobyl though. That could happen when a particularly zealous alchemist tried to transmute literal metric tons of lead into similarly large quantities of element one hundred and sixty-four. Big risk to the statute of secrecy that wizard archeologists work tirelessly to find before Muggle ones do. Such sites are then, sadly, destroyed.

The space expanding wards within this Olga were not strong enough to cause transmutation of elements, but it was designed to collapse under certain circumstances. Pop quiz! What happens to the human body when the air pressure of the closed space they're in suddenly multiplies one hundred-fold? That image in your mind right now? That's about right.

"That looks a little vulnerable, just out in the open like that." Walburga commented, pointing to the center of the wide-open space.

Tom looked to where she pointed and, sure enough, his horcrux was exactly where he had left it. Embedded into a singular black stone, imported from its many siblings outside, was the sword of Godric Gryffindor.

"That's by design. Mind your step." Tom instructed her "On second though, remain here with our lovely friend."

Tom patted the rainbow serpent before walking towards the center of the room.

He reached the edge of where the traps began and, with a wave of his wand, blew away all of the dust covering each tile. With another wave of his wand he shot a lumos orb to the ceiling illuminating the entire room. Makes it much easier to read.

"so it's password protected, but with stone tiles?" Walburga asked. "Does each one have to be activated in a passcode?"

"Right in one Walburga!" Tom said with a smirk in her direction.

"Are they double encoded to be activated by charms and curses cast on them?" Walburga asked further.

Damn. That was actually a good idea. He could have programmed them for really obscure spells too.

"Nope, just with a bit of dexterity." Tom told her before turning back around and looking for the correct letter. "Let's see here.. I!"

He spotted the ninth letter of the alphabet and hopped on over. He heard Walburga groaned from behind him.

"Next is E!" Tom said as he leapt to the next later.

"Really Tom?!" Walburga demanded.

"S! And yup. Really!" Tom concluded as he made his third leap.

"Indianna Jones?! Are you a child?!" Walburga yelled after him.

"Only at heart, love. E!" Tom told her as he finished. "And another S. What does that spell?!"

Walburga groaned again instead of answering. As she did so every crack around the lettered tiles made a soft glow before turning white. It was now safe to walk on them.

"Didn't have space or mechanical knowhow for the buzzsaws, ditto for the invisible bridge." Tom said cheekily. "It's safe to come over here now, you won't have to watch your step."

She did so, walking over to him with her arms crossed and in quite a fuss. Why must ladies begrudge men their fun?

"How did you design it to be pulled out?" Walburga asked as she stood in front of the legendary artifact. "Passphrase? Fingerprint recognition? Does it need Veela blood since Excalibur was made by them?"

"None of the above, Walburga." Tom told her. "I embedded it into the rock with a banishing charm so hard that the stone melted around it and fused to it. The only way to get it out is to outright carry the sword, rock and all, out of here. Or else somehow shatter the rock."

Walburga actually looked him up and down with an unimpressed expression at his explanation.

"You're not going to take it out of here?" She asked.

"Not today." Tom told her. "Today I just came here to touch it. I ought to be out of commission for a few hours afterwards, so be warned."

"And what? I'm just supposed to stand around here while you do that?" Walburga demanded.

"I brought snacks and a few books in the pack. Help yourself." Tom told her with a shrug. "And you can use magic over there, we can't over here. At least not safely. But I would recommend not using magic at all out of fear of triggering the space expansion charm to collapse."

It was true, so close to the cursed, black stone any spell he cast risked spiraling out of control and triggering the space expansion warn to collapse, killing them both... which would likely destroying the rock containing Gryffindor's sword. In hindsight, he probably just should have sent in a conjured animal and had them do exactly that then jsut walked in and picked it up. How had he missed such a blatant hole in is defenses? They really were otherwise perfect.

If anybody had managed to deduce it was there, they would have had to get through the stone hills, swam up to thirty minutes through the underwater tunnels without the bubblehead charm or getting killed by his rainbow serpent friend, deduced that the space expansion charm was designed to collapse, then they could have easily figured out this little oversight. So, his cleverness in putting in a Muggle reference no wizard would understand would have gone unappreciated.

He was still trying to hide his surprise at Walburga having seen it herself. He refused to ask her about it.

"Alright. No time like the present. Please don't slit my throat while I'm unconscious." Tom asked jokingly.

"And be stuck in this death trap with your snake friend? Not a chance." Walburga joked back.

"Oh, and please move my body away from the stone. I don't like the prospect of waking up from a nap next to it." Tom asked further.

"Stop stalling. The sooner you drop the sooner I can leave." She demanded.

Tom shrugged and sat down on the ground just next to the stone. He took a deep breath and concentrated. He remembered the Fabian brothers, who had fought bravely and in doing so brought unto him the Sword of Gryffindor. Their deaths had been tragic enough to warrant splitting even his tattered soul by then. He had regretted killing such brilliant young men even the day of that battle over such an inconsequential safehouse.

With those thoughts firmly in mind, he pressed a single finger against the flat of the silver blade, just below the G. Then, blackness.

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Okay, so I lied. I know I said I’m just focusing on BSS, but here’s a Magic Knows No Boundaries Chapter. I’ll get back to Blood-Soaked Succession tomorrow.

Also, I think I need to re-edit this chapter and the last one. One to just follow Harry and his emergency meeting, one to just follow Voldemort getting to Godric’s sword.